After years of head-spinning roster turnover, the Red Bulls finally won the Supporters’ Shield last year, their first-ever hardware. Now, other than potentially adding another fullback soon, they’re eschewing change for continuity – even if that means not getting the creative midfielder their supporters are clamoring for.

“Last year there were 16 changes when I came here, and it seemed to be the norm. We went for continuity,’’ sporting director Andy Roxburgh said Friday as the team arrived at Red Bull Arena for the start of training camp.

“We felt the boys showed as group there was togetherness, there was quality in the group, we were the highest goalscorers in the league, we won the league title, which in most countries in the world that would be the thing. We know the glamour that goes with the MLS. [But] we decided to stick with that, see if we could build on what we already created.’’

Even going back to the MetroStars days, this team seemingly always has gone through massive offseason roster purges. But now, other than hoping to add a fullback in the next few days — ESPN commentator Taylor Twellman speculated it could be Toronto’s Richard Eckersley if the 24-year-old is bought out — there don’t figure to be a host of changes before opening day.

“The centerback part we’ve dealt with. The fullback side we’re hopeful in the coming couple of days we can tell you about that one. We’ve already made a move on that front. We brought Bobby Convey in because we view him as that creative middle-to-front player,’’ Roxburgh said. “I think yes, an MLS player, and you might even know that by the end of the day or tomorrow.’’

Convey, added from Toronto, said he elected to come to New York over a bigger offer from Toronto in part to get closer to his family in Philadelphia and in part to be with a winning team.

“They offered me a contract to stay there and I appreciated it,’’ Convey said. “But I chose to take less money to come here and be closer to my family and play on a winning team that’s proved they’re going to be successful.’’

And that success — as well as a tight salary cap — seems to have Roxburgh and coach Mike Petke convinced they can win without adding a pricey attacking midfielder like Anderlecht’s Ronald Vargas.

“No, I haven’t had any dealings with that. That was just a name. … I get half a dozen a day, agents with piles of names. That’s the only place I heard that name; it didn’t come from us. He was just one of those piles of names that comes from agents. I usually write back: ‘No space, no money,’ ’’ Roxburgh said. “We don’t see anything dramatic happening in the next couple of weeks.’’

Petke never mentioned Vargas by name, but was clear in saying the Red Bulls didn’t have a lot of cap space to add an expensive midfielder and didn’t have a system that would easily allow the insertion of a one-way attack-minded player.

“At the end of last season, yes, my wish list included an attacking minded midfielder who could thread things. And I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but we don’t have money the money at the moment to get that,’’ Petke said. “If we take the way we played structurally and just tweak it, we can improve a bit on what we’re doing. To play an attacking-minded midfielder, it’d be really difficult to play a flat 4-4-2, and at the moment that’s what we are.

“The way things stand, I do not want to rip my team apart for the sake of one specific position, and that’s a credit to the players. I don’t think they’ve given me a reason to do that. The moves we made were for the most part out of [financial] necessity. I’m not going to rip my ream apart unless they give me a reason to.’’

Tim Cahill – who has played in central midfield alongside Dax McCarty, and also up front with Thierry Henry – didn’t see the need to change the formula.

“Creative midfielder is hard to get and it’s expensive. If he comes fantastic, but we had a successful season last year with that sort of setup,’’ Cahill said. “We had supposedly no creative midfielder, but we were the highest scoring team in the league. And we weren’t creative in the middle. That’s the answer to the question.

“You can change and bring in a creative midfielder, you can push me up, you can keep me there. Me and Thierry finished top of the chart for our team, and our aim was to get a consistency of … formation that’d be hard to beat, hard to break down, a defensive rock and everyone pitching in with a goal. So the answer is we had supposedly no creative midfielder, but we were the highest-scoring team.’’

Red Bulls deny any Xavi link…for now

From the star that was supposedly recruiting him to the sporting director that would have to sign him, the Red Bulls insist there isn’t and never was a pursuit of Spanish superstar Xavi. But with their admiration for the player and working relationship with the Spanish megaclub Barcelona, that doesn’t mean there won’t be one someday.

“I’m a fan,’’ Roxburgh admitted. “He’s fantastic, great character, great boy, wonderful football player. That came as news to me he was even interested in coming here. And I don’t think he’s even free until 2016, but that’s an interesting one to consider.

“If you asked me know would I like to have Xavi? Yes. But I don’t know whether that’s feasible. That’s another story, and that would be quite far down the line. No, we haven’t [talked to Xavi]. We haven’t been in discussions with anybody about that.’’

Reports came from Europe that Red Bulls captain Henry had convinced the team to pursue Xavi and had reached out to his former Barcelona teammate as well. Reports followed that Xavi had agreed to transfer to New York after this summer’s World Cup in Brazil, despite being under contract at Barcelona until 2016.

But Henry rubbished the report altogether.

“No, I don’t know where that came from,’’ Henry said.

Henry had been quoted last week at a Puma promotional event saying he thought Xavi – a 33-year-old product of Barcelona’s youth system – should stay at Camp Nou.

“Xavi can do whatever he wants. For me, given everything he has done for football and Barcelona, he should stay there and spend the rest of his life at Barça,’’ Henry said. “Xavi can play in the MLS, in France, England, or in my neighborhood. I think he’s an incredible player. People don’t realize what Xavi has done on the pitch.’’

Henry – who is 36 and in the last year of his contract – wouldn’t say whether he plans on playing in 2015.

“I’m not thinking about it might or might not be my last year or whatever it is. It is a year that is coming. We want to perform as a team and try to make sure we can go further this year,’’ Henry said. “I’m not thinking about next year. I’m thinking about this year. That’s what is on my mind right now. That’s all.’’

Roxburgh was coy when asked whether Henry’s plans would impact the Red Bulls’ decisions on whether to pursue a Designated Player this summer.

For his part, Xavi claimed he didn’t know anything about New York other than it was cold – he got that part right – and insisted he didn’t even have Henry’s number.

Still, a move for Xavi somewhere down the line isn’t far-fetched considering the Red Bulls have enjoyed a great working relationship with Barcelona since the teams played friendlies in 2006 and 2009.

The Red Bulls inked ex-Barcelona player Albert Celades in 2009, added Henry and Rafa Marquez straight off the Barcelona roster the next year despite each having time left on their contracts, and brought in former Barcelona B-team captain Armando this week to bolster their defense.

“For a start, my two fitness experts are Barcelona guys and in fact they’re in touch with the people at Barcelona almost every second day, so we have a good line of communication with the club,’’ Roxburgh said. “At this stage, it’s very early to talk about anybody like Xavi. It’ll be really interesting, no doubt about it.’’

Roxburgh said those Barcelona contacts were instrumental in adding Armando, a 29-year-old centerback who was not at Red Bull Arena as the rest of the players arrived for camp Friday, but will join the team once he gets his P-1 visa.

“This lad had been highly, highly recommended to us. He was the captain,’’ Roxburgh said. “Barcelona signed him to be captain because they recognized his leadership skills. He played centerback as the captain of the B-team there.

“We’ve spoken to the people at Barcelona, and they were all impressed with him, they all liked him and he can play. He’s a good sold centerback in the air, but he’s got the Barcelona touch in that he can play a pass coming out of the back. So we’ll see.’’